Means for driving electrical conductors into conduits



(No Model.) 4Sheets-Sheet 1.

D. N. HURLBUT. MEANS POR DRIVING ELEOTRIGAL GONDUGTORS INTO UONDUITS.

No. 321,363. PatentedJune 30, 1885.

(No Mode 1.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

D. N. HURLBUT.

MEANS POR DRIVING ELEGTRIGAL GONDUGTURS INTO GONDUITS.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3-.

, D. N. HURLBUT. 7

MEANS POR DRIVING ELBGTRICAL OONDUGTORS INTO GONDUITS. Ne. 321,363.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

D. N. HURLBUT. MEANS POR DRIVING ELEOTRIUAL UONDUGTORS INTO GONDUITS.

No. 321,363. PatentedJune 30, 1885.

forcing sueh needle-wire through the conduit NITED STATES Pnxrurrr rrr oe DANIEL N. HURLBU'I, OF CHICAGO, LLINQIS.

MEANS FOR DRIVING ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS INTO CONDUITS.

T0 a,ZZ wh0m it may concern:

Be t known that I, DANIEL N. HURLBUT, a citizen of the United States, residing ai; Chioago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinoie, beve inventori new and useful Improvemente in Means for Driving Electrical Conduotors into Conduits, of whieh the following is a specificuton.

This invention has for its object to provide means for intro(iucing electrical conductors into underground conduits or pipes; and the invention eonsists, among other things, in the eombinaiion of a needle-wire, guides for guiding said wiro into the end of 2L conduit or pipe, end rotating pressure-roilers for drivug or 01 pipe end then retraoting it when oonnected to the oleetrioal conduotor to be introduced.

The invention aso consists of other feutures, which will be bereinafter described end claimed.

In che accompanying dmwings, Figure 1 is zt ongitudina central sectional view of an apparatus embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a top pian view; Fig. 3, a, side elevation showing the position of all the perts when in use, and Fig. 4 sect-ional dotail views. Fig. 5 is a side view of t-be upparatus, illustrating the press ure-rollers, the guide end oonductonguide, tbe ree1 for feoding the needle-wire, and the ree1 for paying out the eleotrieal concluctor.

leferring to the said druwings,the number 1 indicates o snpporting-base on whioh are arranged three standards or posts, 2, oonneoted at thoir base by a plate, 8, the ends of whioh are arranged in grooves 4 at the ends of the base. Tho supportingbase at each sde is provided with two uprights, 5, each opposite pair o' whioh is provided With suitable boxes or bee-rings for the journals of two rollers, 6, arranged, respoetvely, one above the other, joined to the ShibftS 8. One of the end posts 2 earries a horizontal tubulur guide, 9, preferably having a fl:tring mout-h for reoeiving the end of a needle-wire, 10, which may be wound. or coi1od on a reel, A, supported by a fra-me, 12, at or near one end of the machine, whle the central post 2 carries another tubular guide, 13, whoh receives che needle-wire as it emerges from the first pair of rollers and guides it tothe second pair, and the other end post oarries a guideway, 14, provided ai; its

Patent No. 321,363, dated June 30, 1885.

enter end with an attached sorew-nut, 15, into which is sorewed the threuded shank on a. ooupling, 16, having a threaded socket, int-o which one end of the flexibie or tubular extremity of the oonduetor-guide 17 is secured, the other end of the fiexible section 01: extremity being provided with an zttcztehed sooket-coupling, 18, in which one end of the conductor-guide is swiveled, as at 19, the otber end of the conductorguide having & soeketooupling, 20, in whieh is seoured one end of the other flexibio or tubular rubber extremity of the conduotor-guicie, carrying et its other end a ooupling huving a tubular shauk, 21, provided with a nipple, 22, adapted to enter the outer end of the terminal 23 of a conduit, 24, as in Fig. 4. The sbank 21 is, provided With a loose screw-nut, the obj ect of which is to screw into the open end of tbe terminal after removing therefrom the screw-plug 25, whereby the outer end of the oonductor-gude is connected with the conduit or tube 24 for the purpose of direeting und guiding the noedle-wire 10 and the electrcai oonduetor 11 into the eonduit or pipe when seid needlewire is advztnced by the pressure of the rollers acting to drive or impel it along.

As bere illustruted, che neede-wire is introduced to the conciuits ata man-bole,26,zmd the terminale are ofthe oonstruction for wbieb I have beretofore obteined Lettere Patent; but any other suitable construotion may be used, if desred. The mechine being located on the surfeoe of the ground, the rigd part of the conduetor-guide between the iiexible extremities is bent downward, and the said guide being swiveled et its upper or inner end, as at- 19, con be freely turned for the purpose of connecting the other end with the terminal of any one of a series of confluite or pipes, while the flexible extremities prevent binding or twisting of the conneotions in adjusting or moving the outer end of the guide to any of the termin-ais.

The conduits or pipes sbown ere of any usua1 desired form and nmterial, but muy simpiy be peper tubes laici in a body of asphait buried in the ground; but obviously the construction of tbe conduits or pipes end termina1s eonstitutes 110 part of the present invention.

The shafts of each pair of pressure ro11ers are provided, respectively, With 2L gear-wheel, 27, meshing together, and the lower georwheels of the respeetive pairs mesh With a pinion, 28, by which motion s transmitted from the first pair of rollers, power being applied through the medium of a crank, 29, or any other suitable means.

In the drawings I have shown 2m adjustingserew provided with 2L serew-thread, working in {L threaded orifice or nut in the central post, 2, in sueh manner tl1at the three posts carrying the tubulztr guides and the guideway can be adjusted or moved transversely to the base 01" che frame, thereby presenting the needlewire to different parts of the Sl1lft0S of the rollers, whereby the same parts of the rollersurfaees Will not eontinuously aet on the noedle-wire or conduetoras the seme may be advaneed, thus preventing undue wearing of or injury to the surfaces of the rollers. Still this adjustment need not be employed.

Ihe ends of the tubulztr guides and the guidewzty wheh are acljaeent to the rollers are beveled for the purpose of bringing them between the rollers, and as near as praeticable te a vertical line taken centrally through the rollers, thereby preventing the needle-wire frorn being kinked or ben't by the aetion of the rollers in impelling the same.

The parts being in the position shown in Fig. 3, the needle-wire Will be aecurately guided end held between the rollers as the ]atter advanees it, and the eonductor-guide direets end guides the needle-wire from the guidewzty into the terminal or end of the conduit or pipe, through which it is driven by the pressure and rotation of the rollers, whieh rollers may be'of a-ny suitable material-suoh as brass, iron, or hard wood. The end of the needle-wire, before entering the eonduit or pipe at the end of the condueting-tube, is preferably bent upon itself or a bulbous projeetion formed or attached to the end, so that sueh end Will smoothly glide pasta bll joints or projeetions that may be present either in the guides, the terminals, or the eonduits.

The means for rotating the rollers may be variously ehanged or modified, end a single pair of rollers may be used and varously ehanged or modified; but I prefer to employ two or more pairs for aoting on the needlewire, thus impelling the same with a greuter forward foroe.

The needle-wire is wound or coiled upon the reel A and then paid out to the pressurerollers for ntroduetiori into end through the conduit or pipe, as hereinbefore set forth. I prefer, and it Will be found most advantageous and eminently practieal, to connect the eleetrcal conduetor or cable With the free end of the needle wire or rod 10 by a hook, clip, or olamp, or otherwise, at the exit of the conduit or pipe, the needlewire having been propelled through the conduit or pipe for sueh purpose, as illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings, when it is retraeted or drawn baek through the eonduit or pipe, earrying With it che electrical eonductor or eable, whieh is paid out by and from the reel B, Whieh retraetion or withdrawal of the needle-wire can be accomplshed by rewinding on the reel A, whieh Will be found suffieient to retraet or withdraw the needle wire or rod along with the eleetrical conduetor or cable eonneeted therewith. Still the pair or duplicate pair of rollers, whieh are employed for driving or forcing through the conduit or pipe the needle-wire, may be employed for retract-ing or withdrawng the same baok through the conduit or pipe, carrying along with it tl1e eleetrical conductor or eable, or said pair or duplieate pair of rollers may be employed in connection with the reel, in whieh case lese power would be required to rotate the reel, as the rollers would aet as the medium of withdrawing the needle-wire and eonduetor or cable conneeted therewith. 7

The coiled needle-wire con, in the manner deseribed, be rapidly a;nd With facility driven into and through a conduit or pipe for a considerable lengt-h. The e1tire meeha.nism is, comparatively speaking, simple in construetion end in ics mode of operation, end but little labor is involved in che working of the 1nethod.

I am aware that eleetric eondueting-wires have been pushed through conduits or tubes by means of rotating pressure rollers and means for dreeting the wires into such conduits. In sueh system of laying wires the wire is fed forward by a machine loeated at the starting plaee or man-hole leading to the conduit, and' is eonneeted with a SIIIIELI' maohine arranged at the next sueceeding manhole, sueh two machines now working simultaneously to feed the wire to a third man-hole, when the wire is eonneeted with still another maohine, and so on along the entire route.

My inventon differs essentially from the above, since I make use of a so-ealled needle-wire, whch serves as a earrying medium for the eleetrie eonductingwire, and is open ated in sueh a manner that after it has been forced or pushed through a conduit' from one man-hole or station to another it is eonneeted with the eonducting-wire and made to retraee its eourse from the second station to the first station, so as to lay the conducting-wire in a simple, expeditious, and perfeot manner. By providing a needle or earrier wire which operates in the manner herein set forth, I am ena-bled to lay condueting-wires into long conduits with a single machine, consisting, essentially, of two rotating pressure-rollers, and means for direeting the needle-wire into the conduit.

It is obvious thai; by pushing eleetric conduoting-wires through eonduits by direet-acting maehines or rollers aeting direetly upon said wires, powerful pressure end large machines are required to feed the wire through the conduit, whereas in my invention I can use a needle or ,earrier wire whieh 02m be made of some strong end hard metal of a coin- ICO IIO 

